


puppies are easy

by rudeandginger



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 16:02:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20342824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rudeandginger/pseuds/rudeandginger
Summary: Lena has to tour an animal shelter for publicity. She has no idea how to act around animals. So she calls Kara Danvers in a panic.





	puppies are easy

**Author's Note:**

> WTAF I wrote something in 2017 that wasn't shippy. You're here for Supergirl and puppies, right? Forget my tense changes! *jazz hands*

Charity was all well and good, Lena loved doing it. Loved using the Luthor fortune, amassed through greed and hurt, to do nothing but good. It was her way of getting back at Lex. And a new no-kill animal shelter for National City was as purely good as any idea Lena could think of.

The problem was that the shelter now wanted her to visit. For publicity. Walk around, play with some puppies and kittens, maybe hold a hard-luck case for the camera to get people interested in it. For normal people, that would be easy. But Lena Luthor had never owned a pet in her life, nor had anyone in her family. She had -no- idea how to act around animals, and if she was honest with herself, they -terrified- her.

So she calls Kara Danvers in a panic.

Kara is over as fast as she possibly can be, a Noonan's drink container in her hand containing lattes and a bag containing bagels. "Lena, what's wrong?"

Kara can't understand what's got her friend so -worried-. Lena is inspecting her nails too often, pacing slightly, and not actually telling Kara what's wrong. "Lena. Tell me."

Lena sighs. "That new shelter has been open for a few weeks now."

"The no-kill one you built? Has something happened to it?" Kara blinks. Surely neither one of Lena's remaining relatives would be so terrible as to destroy a building full of -puppies-.

"Oh, -no-. No no no," Lena assures her quickly. "It's just they want to do a grand opening. With me present. And a tour...of the place."

Kara blinks again, tilts her head, and puts down the food. "I don't understand. How is that bad?"

"I've never had a pet," Lena finally manages to say.

Kara frowns, but then understanding sets in. "Ohhhh. You don't know how to be around dogs, do you?"

"No, not at all." Lena swipes the latte she knows is hers out of the container. "And I have no idea how to -learn-."

"Well, maybe Supergirl could go with you?" The idea is out of Kara's mouth before she can stop it. "It'd give the shelter more publicity."

Lena sighs and takes a sip of her coffee. "I...I guess that could work."

"I'll call her and let her know. She loves animals," Kara says, blushing. It was entirely too hard to keep the secret from Lena these days.

Lena smiles over the rim of her cup. -I love that you think you keep fooling me.- "Then she can show me how to act."

"Absolutely! But dogs are really easy, you just see if their tail is wagging and how high it's wagging..." Kara was off, babbling about canine body language, and Lena simply basks in it.

And that was how Lena found herself that weekend walking the halls of the shelter her money had built, Supergirl beside her, cameras flashing whenever they were allowed.

There was a large play room off the dog wing, and the women were informed that there were a bunch of adoptable puppies for them to play with for the cameras.

Lena sucked in her breath as they approached the door.

"You can do this, puppies are easy," Supergirl said to her softly.

At first, Supergirl tried to play with every puppy who crossed her path, but she ended up being absolutely mobbed by all the tiny dogs, who just wanted to jump on her, give her sloppy kisses, and find out if they could chew on her.

Lena had stepped out of the dog play area while Supergirl was disappearing under squirmy baby bits of fur, and a shelter worker came up to her.

"Not a dog person, huh?"

"Not especially."

"How about cats?"

Lena turned to the worker and realized she was holding a furry lump. "What about them?"

"This is Sam," said the worker, depositing the cat neatly in Lena's arms before she had time to protest. "He's had a really hard life. First he lost his eye and part of his ear, and then he lost his owner. He's been bumped around rescues to save him from the kill shelters, but then he was sent here."

The lump in Lena's arms began to purr. She stroked Sam's head softly. "How old is he?"

"Eight. Way too old for the kitten crowd. Adult cats are -so- hard to place, because everyone wants a tiny ninja with needles strapped to its feet instead." The worker sighed.

Lena tilted her head, trying to catch the cat's one good eye with hers. Sam had a yellow eye, she saw. He gave a yawn and then snuggled into her.

"Look, you've been accepted! I'd say he doesn't do that for anyone, except that he does. Sam needs a home -so- badly. Maybe you could tell the press about him?"

Lena nodded. "Is he safe around the dogs?"

"He doesn't care about them. So as long as you keep him up and away from curious puppies, it shouldn't be an issue."

Lena walked back over to the dog play area, noticing that Supergirl was admonishing the five puppies trying to tug her cape while she held two more and took turns kissing their heads. Lena laughed and shook her head. -What a puppy pile.-

Unbeknownst to Lena, Sam had crept up from her arms to rest his head on her shoulder. It only clicked for her when his purr got louder. She smiled and reached up to scratch behind his ears, as Kara had informed her most cats liked.

When Supergirl fell over again and the puppies swarmed her, Lena couldn't help but laugh. Sam had inched his head over against her neck, so she gave him a quick kiss, which made him purr even louder. She noted the cameras flashing. -Ah well.-

Supergirl looked up at Lena, seeing full well what was happening, and whipped out her phone with super speed to take a photo before Lena was even aware. Then she grinned.

"Are you ready to show him to the cameras? We have a story you can read," the worker said, having popped up again with a paper in her hand.

"No," Lena said softly. "I'd like his paperwork, please."

The worker stepped back from her, wide-eyed. "You mean that?!"

"I do," Lena replied. "If you want to give me another cat for the press conference, that's fine, but I'm taking Sam home."

Sam purred and bumped his head against Lena's jaw.

Supergirl held two squirmy puppies for the press conference while Lena held a mother cat who had just weaned her kittens, all of them ready for adoption. The footage aired on the local television stations, with Catco's channels giving it primetime spots, and the shelter shortly reported a surge in adoption interest.

Kara came over the next day to meet Sam and promptly gushed over him. "Lena, I never thought in a million years you'd come home with someone!" She scratched under Sam's chin, who purred away.

"He doesn't need attention all the time, and he likes the maids just as much as he likes me," Lena said. "I was hoping you'd come over and play with him when I have to be out of town?"

Kara grinned. "Absolutely!"

Just then, Kara's phone vibrated, and Lena looked over at it. "Hey, where'd you get that?!"

Kara looked over. Her phone background was the picture she'd taken of Lena kissing Sam's head. "Oh, Supergirl sent that to me. She thought I might like it."

"How on -earth- did she get it? She was swarmed with puppies the whole time!"

"Super speed." Kara grinned and reached for her phone. "Want a copy?"

"Yes. But I hope neither of you have shared that anywhere!"

Kara laughed. "Of course not. You're my favourite, I'm not sharing." She blushed.

Lena looked at her, surprised. "You're...you're my favourite too, you know that?"

"Awww," Kara dithered, blushing even further. "You can't mean that."

"Why would I say it if I didn't mean it?" Lena blinked.

"Your assistant takes good care of you. Isn't she your favourite?"

"I'm not half as happy to see her coming through my office doors as I am you, Kara." Lena smiled. "She never brings doughnuts, after all."

"You are cruising for a giant hug, you know." Kara got up and wrapped her arms around Lena tightly.

Lena laughed and hugged back. "My nefarious plan has succeeded."

Sam looked at his human and her friend, blinked slowly, and purred.

**Author's Note:**

> LENA YOU WERE NOT SUPPOSED TO GET A DAMN CAT. *eye roll* Behold, the writer is merely a slave to the keystrokes.


End file.
